Not gonna lie, I'm feeling more overwhelmed by this goal than I thought, so using the end of 2022 to kick out my self-doubts and just push forward.
It's idealistic to say I want to empower as many people, especially women with little to no privilege given to them in life so far, to own land. Property. A stable home. But my hesitations aren't in THEM but in myself. Who am I to say I can do for them what decades of their experience and dozens of agencies have yet to be able to.
But I firmly believe, and it's commonly known in marketing and educational circles, that you need to hear something at least seven times and in seven different ways before you will bring an idea into action or firm understanding. So I'm going forward with the idea that maybe I can just be one of the seven to help add to the conversation.
I also still carry too much of the "what will people think of me" ego. I'm fully aware of the "white savior complex" and "well-meaning white woman" stereotypes attached with swooping into a community to do the good we think needs to be done. But then, that's the reason I'm focusing on the communities I belong to. Maybe I didn't grow up on the rez, but I feel the generational trauma of a grandmother who was forced into boarding schools. My heart feels at home when I hear a drum circle or watch a fancy dance. I have friends from the reservations, I've worked on the reservations, and I believe I can be a conduit from them to playing the game of capitalism and real estate, of which I also wasn't born and raised in, but that I have sought to understand with a curiosity and dedicated my free time to elevate my knowledge to an above-average understanding.
So I'm going to push forward and risk looking stupid. I'm going to take criticisms with a sense of gratitude for learning and seeking to understand another level. I'm going to go full force in 2023 with empowerment through love and meeting people where they are, not ego and seeking to make myself feel better. Right headspace, right intentions.
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